07.09.2020
14 Common Community Management Mistakes You Should Avoid
In this article, we'll break down the most common management mistakes when administering a brand community.
1. Viewing the community as just a source of income
One of the main purposes of a community is to unite users who are close to the goal and ideology of the brand. Commercial benefit should come second. By viewing the audience as a tool for making a profit, you depersonalize the community, turning it into a regular online store. Instead, become both a brand mouthpiece and a lifesaver for users, helping to solve their problems.
For example, the “adidas Runners” running community is more than just a running club: it helps audiences choose sports sections, get a workout plan, take part in sports festivals, and so on.
For example, the “adidas Runners” running community is more than just a running club: it helps audiences choose sports sections, get a workout plan, take part in sports festivals, and so on.
2. Lacking a strategy for working with the community
Understanding how to create a community requires strategy analysis and synchronization with the client's business goals. The goal of community management can be, for example, popularizing a brand, customer development, or generating content (UGC). The final goal determines what the content should be, how to properly interact with the audience, and how to motivate them.
According to many experts, content becomes the starting point for building a brand-client dialogue. With the help of a correctly selected tone of voice, a loyal relationship with the audience is built.
According to many experts, content becomes the starting point for building a brand-client dialogue. With the help of a correctly selected tone of voice, a loyal relationship with the audience is built.
Some community managers do not study their target audience and apply the same strategy to all communities. It doesn't work that way. The lack of an individual approach and a thorough study of the product turns the community into another soulless group on social networks.
3. Lacking brand voice
When there is no clear idea of how to interact with the audience, users get bored. It is important not just to talk about the benefits of the brand, but to demonstrate them clearly.
Start a friendly conversation and be open with your audience. People shouldn't get the impression that they are talking to a bot. A sense of humor is always great, but remember that you are a professional, so filter your jokes.
Start a friendly conversation and be open with your audience. People shouldn't get the impression that they are talking to a bot. A sense of humor is always great, but remember that you are a professional, so filter your jokes.
Become an authority, but don't be authoritarian.
4. Not leveling negative sentiments at an early stage
When conflict has already flared up it takes more effort to "extinguish" it. The community manager needs to promptly respond to any negative statements from users, and even more so to their claims.
There are plenty of examples on the Internet when large companies become the target of a scandal due to online comments. As a result, major financial and time resources had to be invested to restore their reputation.
There are plenty of examples on the Internet when large companies become the target of a scandal due to online comments. As a result, major financial and time resources had to be invested to restore their reputation.
Your task is not just to listen, but to hear the audience. This is why special tools (Awario, Brandwatch, etc.) are used that allow you to quickly receive information about new mentions of your brand online. In addition, it is important to create a non-toxic community where users feel safe, can openly express their claims, and are ready for dialogue.
This way, they don’t splash out their negativity on review sites or forums.
This way, they don’t splash out their negativity on review sites or forums.
5. Trying to get as many subscribers as possible as your main goal
The community is not just a huge number of people. They must be united around one goal. If you only work to increase the number of subscribers, most likely you will face a problem when the audience cannot find a common language. Managing a large number of people with different interests, goals, and values is almost impossible. Your community will be chaos.
6. Overreacting emotionally to negativity
No brand is immune to harsh criticism or personal attacks. In no case should you respond with rudeness in return. Remember that you are speaking on behalf of the brand and the company's reputation will depend on how your dialogue with an unhappy customer is built.
Respond politely, set the person up for a constructive dialogue, and show a willingness to participate. Even the most angry customer can be turned loyal by showing a genuine desire to help and finding a solution that suits both parties. And don't remove negative comments, or you risk spoiling your brand image if the information comes up.
Respond politely, set the person up for a constructive dialogue, and show a willingness to participate. Even the most angry customer can be turned loyal by showing a genuine desire to help and finding a solution that suits both parties. And don't remove negative comments, or you risk spoiling your brand image if the information comes up.
7. Forbidding “flooding” or over-moderating
It is important for every community manager to create a non-toxic community where people can feel free and interact not only with the brand, but also with each other. It is important for the audience to know which of the subscribers has what position. If you prohibit communication on "non-core topics", people will simply not be interested in you, and they will unsubscribe.
At the same time, it is important to control flooding and track topics that cause conflicts or do not correspond to the topic of the community. You can select special threads for communication, create a series of hashtags, for example, # acquaintance, to streamline the interaction of the audience.
At the same time, it is important to control flooding and track topics that cause conflicts or do not correspond to the topic of the community. You can select special threads for communication, create a series of hashtags, for example, # acquaintance, to streamline the interaction of the audience.
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Not a public offer.
Not a public offer.
8. Taking care of everything yourself
Work in a team and interact with other specialists: SMM-manager, copywriter, moderator and developers. Don't take on all the functions from creation to content writing. Focus on generating ideas about how to develop the community, how to attract new subscribers, how to build close contact with them, and so on. If you are torn on several fronts, you will not be able to achieve the desired results.
9. Not tracking work results
Research shows that about 56% of community managers do not track KPIs for six months after launching a project. Without tracking, you simply won't know if you are moving in the right direction and what should be changed in the community development strategy.
Mistakes of community managers developing the gaming community
Gaming communities made it clear how and why to create a community. Managers received feedback from players on how to make the product better. We'll take a closer look at what makes a bad community in the gaming industry.
1
Ignoring development issues
The community manager needs to work in tandem with the developers to improve the user experience. Implement features such as creating a news section where upgrades will be announced and discussed.
The community manager needs to work in tandem with the developers to improve the user experience. Implement features such as creating a news section where upgrades will be announced and discussed.
2
Assuming you don’t need to work with players until they subscribe to the community
The main difference between ordinary players and active players is that the latter more often interact with other subscribers and the community manager. It is important to analyze the picture as a whole and not judge only active players.
How much time do players spend on a particular section? What is in demand and what is not? Analyze the behavior of players and game elements and you will improve the product for everyone, not just the most active players.
The main difference between ordinary players and active players is that the latter more often interact with other subscribers and the community manager. It is important to analyze the picture as a whole and not judge only active players.
How much time do players spend on a particular section? What is in demand and what is not? Analyze the behavior of players and game elements and you will improve the product for everyone, not just the most active players.
3
Performing technical support duties as a community manager
The main task of community management is to create interesting news that will attract the attention of players. Problems should be solved by specialists from the technical support department. If a person writes about his problem on the forum or on social networks, then you need to redirect him to the support.
The main task of community management is to create interesting news that will attract the attention of players. Problems should be solved by specialists from the technical support department. If a person writes about his problem on the forum or on social networks, then you need to redirect him to the support.
4
Not putting a system in place to measure opinions
You need to segment and study each player's review. This takes a lot of effort, but it is worth it to understand what the weaknesses of the project are and how to strengthen them. Analyzing manually is not always convenient, especially when working with large communities. Therefore, it is recommended to use special social listening tools. The services analyze comments and their tone, which allows analyzing the opinions of players and collecting data for developers. You can read more about popular tools in our other article.
You need to segment and study each player's review. This takes a lot of effort, but it is worth it to understand what the weaknesses of the project are and how to strengthen them. Analyzing manually is not always convenient, especially when working with large communities. Therefore, it is recommended to use special social listening tools. The services analyze comments and their tone, which allows analyzing the opinions of players and collecting data for developers. You can read more about popular tools in our other article.
Example of unloading data
For example, the War Robots application allocated a separate community manager for each new region from the very beginning. This made it possible to deeply analyze the opinions of the players, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the product, and understand the degree of player satisfaction.
The data was collected and processed manually. In the course of processing, comments were tagged by tone and subject of discussion. What were the users talking about more? Graphics in the game? Donations? Based on the processing results, the most popular topics were selected for a more detailed study with the involvement of developers, designers, etc.
The data was collected and processed manually. In the course of processing, comments were tagged by tone and subject of discussion. What were the users talking about more? Graphics in the game? Donations? Based on the processing results, the most popular topics were selected for a more detailed study with the involvement of developers, designers, etc.
5
5. Solving all issues yourself
Find yourself an assistant, such as one of the active players. If you build the hierarchy correctly, there can be any number of them, depending on the scale of the project.
Use status badges and activity counters. Upon reaching a certain rank, seasoned players can keep an eye on newcomers and bring them up to date. Create guides and post them in a prominent place.
Find yourself an assistant, such as one of the active players. If you build the hierarchy correctly, there can be any number of them, depending on the scale of the project.
Use status badges and activity counters. Upon reaching a certain rank, seasoned players can keep an eye on newcomers and bring them up to date. Create guides and post them in a prominent place.
Conclusion
Consider the community not only as a tool to increase your profits, but as an opportunity to improve and strengthen your online reputation. The main task of a community manager is not just to recruit a large number of subscribers, but to attract people united by one goal, with similar interests and values. Create a community where you feel comfortable and people can openly express their opinions and give you feedback.
Lack of a strategy and an individual approach to each project will not allow you to achieve high results. To attract people and establish close contact with them, you need to thoroughly study the product and brand values in order to create attractive content and establish communication with the target audience.
React to negativity quickly. Do not delay the situation, otherwise you will seriously damage the brand's reputation. Always remain professional and answer politely, even if the client gets personal.
Use third-party tools in your work to track audience opinions. Analyze the results of your work in order to make adjustments to the community development strategy if necessary.
Lack of a strategy and an individual approach to each project will not allow you to achieve high results. To attract people and establish close contact with them, you need to thoroughly study the product and brand values in order to create attractive content and establish communication with the target audience.
React to negativity quickly. Do not delay the situation, otherwise you will seriously damage the brand's reputation. Always remain professional and answer politely, even if the client gets personal.
Use third-party tools in your work to track audience opinions. Analyze the results of your work in order to make adjustments to the community development strategy if necessary.
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